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Threats
Efforts to enhance vetting of travelers to the United States, to intercept ISIS fighters fleeing Syria and Iraq, and to remain vigilant of “homegrown violent extremists” highlighted a Terror Threat Snapshot released by the House Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday.
Key developments... Read More »
With billions of dollars flowing into a focus on artificial intelligence, China poses both a military and commercial threat to the United States where artificial intelligence is concerned, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
While the exact amounts invested remain hazy, experts dub... Read More »
Mass amounts of marijuana and cocaine with an estimated street value of more than $1.3 million were recently intercepted by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Laredo Port of Entry in two separate seizures.
On Saturday, CBP officers found 53 pounds of cocaine hidden on a... Read More »
An investigational vaccine developed by scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and Technology (WRAIR) successfully triggered an immune response among adult participants of clinical trials, according to a study published on Monday.
The Zika purified inactivated virus (ZPIV)... Read More »
Despite gains made by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in foreign airport assessments and air carrier inspections, a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) study found “considerable regional variation” in compliance with security standards and recommended practices.... Read More »
Businesses would have to adhere to new customer notification requirements for data breaches under a bill introduced in the Senate on Thursday, and corporate employees could face new criminal penalties for deliberately concealing breaches.
Democratic members of the Senate Commerce, Science and... Read More »
Nigeria, which has been stricken by outbreaks of yellow fever, received aid from the International Coordinating Group (ICC) last week in the form of 1.4 million vaccines.
Distribution of those vaccines will be aided by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is working to support the... Read More »
During a 24-hour period last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers intercepted a total of 12,215 pounds of narcotics valued at more than $9.1 million at ports of entry along the California border with Mexico.
The officers seized 11,895 pounds of marijuana, 227 pounds of... Read More »
The Twenty-Second Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) recently appointed H.E. Ambassador Fernando Arias of Spain as the next director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Ambassador Arias will take over... Read More »
Efforts to modernize the Douglas Port of Entry in southeastern Arizona advanced on Friday with the General Services Administration (GSA) awarding a contract to Tuscon-based architectural firm Line and Space to conduct a feasibility study.
The feasibility study will aim to evaluate and identify... Read More »
U.S. Border Patrol has effectively deployed surveillance technology like radars, sensors, and cameras along the southern border, but data quality and efforts to assess the effectiveness need to be improved, a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) review found.
Although technology... Read More »
The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has published a new guidance document to aid hospitals’ response to disease outbreaks.
The new guide, published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology and titled,... Read More »
A recently published study from researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, China, found that viral strains in bats contained all the necessary genetic building blocks of the human SARS coronavirus.
The findings, published in PLOS Pathogens, suggest that genetic recombination... Read More »
A study by researchers at Hokkaido University recently used mathematical models to determine that the risk of the pneumonic plague epidemic in Madagascar spreading elsewhere in the world is limited.
The researchers estimated that the number of exported cases was below 0.1 person in each country... Read More »
The response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone led to a less fragmented health system and the development of more effective mental health care services in the country, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report released on Thursday.
Prior to the outbreak, one specialist... Read More »
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Director Elaine Duke testified before a House committee on Thursday that the Diversity Visa Lottery Program is “rife with fraud,” backing a bill that would eliminate the program.
During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Duke said that... Read More »
Romania agreed to purchase Raytheon Co.’s Patriot integrated air and missile defense system from the U.S. Army on Wednesday, a move that sets the stage for contract negotiations between Raytheon and the U.S. government.
Under the letter of offer and acceptance that the Romanian government... Read More »
While no effective vaccine yet exists against malaria, researchers from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have taken the world a huge step closer with the discovery of antibodies produced in the wake of malaria infection.
Using mice, they identified long-lived memory cells formed and... Read More »
Cyber researchers at the Sandia National Laboratories recently developed a simulation, which appears real but contains altered data, meant to trick hackers into believing they have infiltrated their target system.
When a hacker is discovered, instead of simply removing them from the data... Read More »
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Radiological Assistance Program (RAP) team recently led three days of training on countering a potential nuclear threat for more than 70 local, state, and federal responders in Hawaii.
RAP held the event at the request of the state of... Read More »
Top executives of the government’s national security agencies offered troubling assessments of the growing threats from terrorism, both internationally and domestically, during a congressional hearing on Thursday.
“Today, the magnitude of the threat we face from terrorism is equal to, and in... Read More »
Public health officials warned that malaria response efforts are at a crossroad following the Wednesday release of a report that found 5 million more malaria cases were reported in 2016 than in 2015.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Malaria Report 2017 concluded that funding... Read More »
A Canadian national and resident pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of computer hacking and other criminal offenses related to helping Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to access webmail accounts.
Karim Baratov, also known as Kay, Karim Taloverov, and Karim Akehmet Tokbergenov, was charged... Read More »
Programs that work to secure railroads, buses, public areas of airports and other “soft targets” for terrorist attacks would be revamped and restored under a bill introduced in the House of Representatives on Monday.
The Surface Transportation and Public Area Security Act of 2017 seeks to... Read More »
Following North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile test on Monday, lawmakers called for action on legislation that would require a strategy to confront the nuclear threat and step-up sanctions on North Korea.
U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Forces... Read More »
More than $6 billion in cuts to the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF) included in legislation passed by the House of Representatives earlier this month could hinder how the United States responds to public health crises, an infectious disease expert says.
The CHAMPIONING Healthy Kids... Read More »
While there appears to be hope for Madagascar with the slowing of a pneumonic plague outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns it is too early to call off containment measures.
The number of new infections has been in steady decline for several weeks now, according to the Madagascar... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently delivered 1,000 vials of anti-toxins and 17 tons of medical supplies to Sana’a, Yemen, after a three-week delay caused by the closure of sea and air ports.
“It is shocking that in 2017, there are children dying of an ancient disease that is... Read More »
Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) researchers recently delivered a prototype of a small machine that can perform fingerprinting and forensic analysis, which could help the U.S. armed forces identify insurgents responsible for planting explosive devices.
U.S. and coalition forces may... Read More »
Border Patrol agents detained 13 Mexican nationals in Imperial Beach, California, after they allegedly entered the United States illegally aboard a panga boat in the early morning hours of Nov. 22.
Responding to reports of an incoming boat from Mexico, Border Patrol agents intercepted the... Read More »
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is taking forward steps in the battle against Anthrax--notably by putting up $3,199,221 in funds to Tangen BioSciences for development of a new, low-cost diagnostic.
That money was doled out back in September, establishing a... Read More »
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations agents recently disrupted an attempt to smuggle three undocumented aliens via private aircraft at the Edinburg International Airport in Edinburg, Texas.
Following a pilot document and immigration inspection, air interdiction... Read More »
A new study found that outbreaks of mosquito-borne viruses Zika and Chikungunya typically occur approximately three weeks after heavy rainfall.
The researchers also discovered that Chikungunya will predominate over Zika when they circulate simultaneously because of Chikungunya’s shorter... Read More »
The first human cases of yellow fever since June have been confirmed in Brazil, and public health officials continue to monitor an epizootic outbreak among primates in São Paulo, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Friday.
Seventy-one human cases of suspected yellow fever were... Read More »
Civilians working for the Serbian government recently completed an advanced information systems security (INFOSEC) training session organized by NATO’s Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme in Belgrade and Tallinn.
Twelve representatives from Serbia’s Office of the National... Read More »
